At NY Knicks December 27th, 7:30PM

This was a game of lost opportunities. Flip has been letting Blalock play down the stretch, but this time I think he was hoping the boys would come back and close it out.

When they didn't and the stakes (minutes invested) got higher, he was committed to playing Billups to that point of intersection where his fatigue starts to retard his better judgement.

It's not all CBill either. He certainly didn't put his guys in a position to win, but Tay and Sheed were foolish conceding techs, and that young Knicks core of Balkman, Frye, Lee and Jeffries rendered JMax ineffective.

After almost 24 hours, the one thing I still cannot understand is why Dale did not get more minutes. We needed someone to "tough it up" and Nazr/Tay are not the frontcourt for that mission.

Too lazy to read all the posts here but I'm ok with losing a triple OT game on the raod on a back-2-back against an athletic team...
No secret with what C.B. has looked like the last two games but this is a long season... he could be playing like an allstar next week and we'd forget about this blip on the radar (no I'm not ready to pay him near Max $)....If Chauncey signs long term he could wind up like Joe D, playing decent minutes as a combo guard... he is an awful defender at PG.... yet he's a bully on offense... only Jason Kidd can match him physically... take the good with the bad.
Sheed... he's just plain lazy... yet a gifted defender in the post... length can make up for multiple sins.... what was with that blown dunk that would have sealed the W?... it was Darkoesque.

It's not all CBill either. He certainly didn't put his guys in a position to win, but Tay and Sheed were foolish conceding techs, and that young Knicks core of Balkman, Frye, Lee and Jeffries rendered JMax ineffective.

After almost 24 hours, the one thing I still cannot understand is why Dale did not get more minutes. We needed someone to "tough it up" and Nazr/Tay are not the frontcourt for that mission.

Click to expand...

Say what you want about Zeke and his GM skills. Those young guys (Lee, Frye, Balkman) are the real deal and are only going to get better as they play more together.

Say what you want about Zeke and his GM skills. Those young guys (Lee, Frye, Balkman) are the real deal and are only going to get better as they play more together.

Click to expand...

Watch the Knicks a lot, David Lee is the real deal, and the last nail in Larry's reputation. That fact that LB would not play the kid, when everyone in NY, knew he was a playa is mindboggling, almost as crazy as LB not playing Darko.

Balkman is a minny Rodman, all energy, plays 6 inches bigger. Will have a long career in the NBA as a defensive specialist.

After almost 24 hours, the one thing I still cannot understand is why Dale did not get more minutes. We needed someone to "tough it up" and Nazr/Tay are not the frontcourt for that mission.

Click to expand...

Yep. That is the one thing that frustrates me. With Rasheed's injury, Flip stumbled onto the combination of Davis and Maxiell and caught lightening in a bottle. They work so well together and make such an intimidating duo.

Since Rasheed came back it seems like they never get on the floor together. Is it a question of hierarchy? First Nazr has to get his minutes, then McDyess, then Maxiell or Davis.

Screw all that crap! Davis and Maxiell are absolute dynamite together.
FIND a way, CREATE a way to get them on the floor together.

Too lazy to read all the posts here but I'm ok with losing a triple OT game on the raod on a back-2-back against an athletic team...

Click to expand...

Thank you. If these things become consistant than yeah, gripe all you want. These things happen all the time. If Chauncey keeps doing what he did in NYC than yeah tear him apart. This has only happened a couple times this season, and it happens to every team. Even if these are problems it's better to deal with them now, while you have time to fix it.

Thanks for all the great reviews and comments. I've been out of town and was shocked to see this in the news... triple OT! But now I feel like I kind of sort of watched it through the eyes of the collective PF brain.

What point are you trying to make. ...that Mohammed cost the Pistons the game? That he got manhandled by Curry? Have you seen Curry's stats the past couple of weeks? He's manhandled everbody!

Click to expand...

The only point I am making here is that Mohammed was a total zero for us in those opening five minutes. And that I will review the rest of the game yet. Hold your horses.

Ok, I watched the rest of the game. Whether it was Mohammed getting better, or him just resting most of the 1st half while Curry was playing most of it and getting tired, Mohammed guarded Curry just fine in the 3rd quarter. Mohammed also knocked down 8 points for us. Indeed, Mohammed had a good 3rd quarter. He did get pushed aside once by Curry, but thats pretty good for a whole quarter. He also stayed home a time or two with his man instead of helping out on the drive.

Unfortunately, the rare occurrance where Mohammed does decide to help out, all he does is weakly fouls the guy, never managing to make a play, never managing to challenge the drive enough to make the player back off or even pass the ball to someone else. This does create a problem for the Pistons, as the other team always knows the middle is open with Mohammed playing center for us. Still, for this game, there was not a whole lot of that to talk about concerning Mohammed. About 4 plays total thru the end of the first overtime. (I am not going to reviews the last two overtimes.-ran out of time for now.)

So in all, did Mohammed have a bad game or a good game. Lets call it average. Nothing at all in the first half, a good 3rd quarter, and a decent OT period.

I also reviewed Flip Murray's play. You know, it is not what Flip Murray does that is so bad. Its more what he does not do. He just does not ever show up at the right place on defense or offense. Most of his "bad" play all occurred in a span of a minute, the last minute of 4 he played in this game. (Not counting the brief appearance at the very end of the game.) In the first 3 minutes, during an 11-0 run for NY, he simply did nothing.

It is interesting to note that immediately after Murray left the game, a four minute stretch where we never stopped them hardly at all and scored not at all ourselves, we went on a 12-2 run. The announcers were mentioning how the Pistons were running a clinic on how to play. And Delfino was being mentioned as a huge part of this over and over. Talk about night and day. Could Murray be that bad. Hey, watching who came in when, there seemed no other trigger for what happened besides Murray getting off the floor. Having five solid NBA players out there instead of just four really does make a difference.

The only point I am making here is that Mohammed was a total zero for us in those opening five minutes. And that I will review the rest of the game yet. Hold your horses.

Ok, I watched the rest of the game. Whether it was Mohammed getting better, or him just resting most of the 1st half while Curry was playing most of it and getting tired, Mohammed guarded Curry just fine in the 3rd quarter. Mohammed also knocked down 8 points for us. Indeed, Mohammed had a good 3rd quarter. He did get pushed aside once by Curry, but thats pretty good for a whole quarter. He also stayed home a time or two with his man instead of helping out on the drive.

Unfortunately, the rare occurrance where Mohammed does decide to help out, all he does is weakly fouls the guy, never managing to make a play, never managing to challenge the drive enough to make the player back off or even pass the ball to someone else. This does create a problem for the Pistons, as the other team always knows the middle is open with Mohammed playing center for us. Still, for this game, there was not a whole lot of that to talk about concerning Mohammed. About 4 plays total thru the end of the first overtime. (I am not going to reviews the last two overtimes.-ran out of time for now.)

So in all, did Mohammed have a bad game or a good game. Lets call it average. Nothing at all in the first half, a good 3rd quarter, and a decent OT period.

I also reviewed Flip Murray's play. You know, it is not what Flip Murray does that is so bad. Its more what he does not do. He just does not ever show up at the right place on defense or offense. Most of his "bad" play all occurred in a span of a minute, the last minute of 4 he played in this game. (Not counting the brief appearance at the very end of the game.) In the first 3 minutes, during an 11-0 run for NY, he simply did nothing.

It is interesting to note that immediately after Murray left the game, a four minute stretch where we never stopped them hardly at all and scored not at all ourselves, we went on a 12-2 run. The announcers were mentioning how the Pistons were running a clinic on how to play. And Delfino was being mentioned as a huge part of this over and over. Talk about night and day. Could Murray be that bad. Hey, watching who came in when, there seemed no other trigger for what happened besides Murray getting off the floor. Having five solid NBA players out there instead of just four really does make a difference.

Click to expand...

This was a fair commentary. I'm just curious as to why you saw it fit to do a Mohammed/Murray analysis when it seems fairly obvious that other players played a larger role in the Pistons loss. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were picking on them.

Even if you have an open 3 why not take a dribble or two and a couple steps and pull up for a nice 18 ft jumper.

Also there is no defense on this team at all. Giving up 61 points in the first quarter to the Knicks is a joke. Giving up that many points used to be unheard of unless we were playing a Western Conference team like Dallas or Phoenix.